Proprietary Institution Grant Funds for Students — Certification and Agreement (ALN 84.425Q)

Summary

The U.S. Department of Education's Certification and Agreement for Proprietary Institution Grant Funds for Students (ALN 84.425Q, the (a)(4) Program) under section 2003 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and section 314 of CRRSAA. It requires the recipient to use these funds only for emergency financial aid grants to students, to prioritize students with exceptional need such as Pell Grant recipients, and to hold the funds in trust for students. Recipients may not make grants conditional on enrollment or on applying them to a student's account balance, and may not charge indirect or administrative costs. They may decline funds by August 11, 2021, may face heightened scrutiny if drawdowns are not liquidated within 15 calendar days and need a compliance audit in any fiscal year with $500,000 or more in HEERF spending. The signature fields are blank; OMB Number 1840-0852.

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Issuer: Congressional materials
Document type: Ppr Int A53E5A68B0F1D743 New C A 930Caf3938
Case: Ppr Int A53E5A68B0F1D743 New C A 930Caf3938

Cite this document

“Proprietary Institution Grant Funds for Students — Certification and Agreement (ALN 84.425Q).” Original at www.ed.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/ppr-int-a53e5a68b0f1d743-new-c-a-930caf3938/, SHA-256 9ab9e187e4ece80c46d120b402b0dbe77fd3e500abd30307a921646d9a92cd5c.

Full text

Proprietary Institution Grant Funds for Students– Page 1

American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
Certification and Agreement (ALN 84.425Q) ((a)(4) Program)

PROPRIETARY INSTITUTION GRANT FUNDS FOR STUDENTS

The terms, conditions, and requirements governing your institution’s (Recipient’s) use of these
grant funds awarded pursuant to section 2003 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP)
(Pub. L. 117-2) (award or grant) by the U.S. Department of Education (Department) are
governed by section 2003 of the ARP and section 314 of the Coronavirus Response and Relief
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA) (Pub. L. 116-260) and the following terms
and conditions of this Certification and Agreement (C&A):

Use of Grant Funds:

1. Section 314(d)(7) of the CRRSAA, requires Recipient, as an institution of higher
education as defined in section 102(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended
(HEA), 20 USC § 1002(b), to use the funds made available by this award under
Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.425Q only for emergency financial aid grants to
students as described in section 314(c)(3) of the CRRSAA.

2. Under section 314(c)(3) of the CRRSAA, a Recipient must make emergency financial aid
grants to students (which may include students exclusively enrolled in distance
education), which may be used for any component of the student’s cost of attendance or
for emergency costs that arise due to coronavirus, such as tuition, food, housing, health
care (including mental health care), or child care.

3. Recipient acknowledges that it retains discretion to determine the amount and availability
of each individual emergency financial aid grant consistent with all applicable laws,
including non-discrimination laws. Recipient acknowledges it must not distribute
emergency financial aid grants in a manner that discriminates against individuals on the
basis of race, color, national origin, disability, or sex. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et
seq.,) (Title VI), 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., (Rehabilitation Act) 20 U.S.C. § 1681 (Title
IX).

4. Recipient further acknowledges that under CRRSAA section 314(c)(3), it must prioritize
grants to students with exceptional need, such as students who receive Pell Grants.
However, students do not need to be Pell recipients or students who are eligible for Pell
Grants in order to receive an emergency financial aid grant.

5. Recipient acknowledges that it may not condition the receipt of an emergency financial
aid grant on continued or future enrollment with the Recipient. Recipient also
acknowledges that it may not require a student to consent to the application of the
emergency financial aid grant to the student’s outstanding account balance with Recipient
as a condition of receipt of or eligibility for an emergency financial aid grant. Recipient
also acknowledges that adding preconditions to receiving a financial aid grant that thwart
this requirement may be subjected to oversight and corrective action.
Proprietary Institution Grant Funds for Students– Page 2

6. In consideration for this award, Recipient agrees that Recipient holds these grant funds in
trust for students and acts in the nature of a fiduciary for students.

7. Recipient acknowledges that the Secretary recommends (a) the maximum Federal Pell
Grant for the applicable award year as an appropriate maximum amount for a student’s
emergency financial aid grant in most cases, and (b) that the Recipient should consider
each student’s particular socioeconomic circumstances in the administration of these
grants.

8. The Secretary strongly encourages Recipient’s financial aid administrator to exercise the
use of professional judgment available under HEA section 479A, 20 USC § 1087tt, to
make adjustments on a case-by-case basis to exclude individual emergency financial aid
grants from the calculation of a student’s expected family contribution. The Secretary has
determined that these individual emergency financial aid grants do not constitute Federal
financial aid under Title IV of the HEA.

9. Recipient acknowledges that it may voluntarily decline all or a portion of its ARP (a)(4)
student funds. The recipient may indicate this by submitting the Voluntary Decline of
HEERF form (OMB Control Number 1840-0856) to the Department by August 11, 2021.
Recipient further acknowledges if it submits this form, it will be ineligible for the future
redistribution of ARP HEERF grant funds to other institutions with greater needs due to
the coronavirus.

10. Recipient acknowledges that to assist with the management and oversight of this ARP
(a)(4) grant, recipient must complete and submit to the Department the Required
Proprietary Institution Certification form (OMB Control Number 1840-0855) along with
this Certification and Agreement in order to receive an ARP (a)(4) grant.

Grant Administration:

11. Recipient acknowledges that consistent with 2 CFR § 200.305, it must minimize the time
between drawing down funds from G5 and paying incurred obligations (liquidation).
Recipient further acknowledges that if it draws down funds and does not pay the incurred
obligations (liquidates) within 15 calendar days it may be subject to heightened scrutiny
by the Department, Recipient’s auditors, and/or the Department’s Office of the Inspector
General (OIG). Recipient further acknowledges that returning funds pursuant to mistakes
in drawing down excessive grant funds in advance of need may also be subject to
heightened scrutiny by the Department, Recipient’s auditors, and/or the Department’s
OIG. Finally, Recipient acknowledges that it must maintain drawn down grant funds in
an interest-bearing account, and any interest earned on all Federal grant funds above $500
(all Federal grants together) during an institution’s fiscal year must be returned (remitted)
to the Federal government via a process described here:
https://www2.ed.gov/documents/funding-101/g5-returning-interest.pdf.
Proprietary Institution Grant Funds for Students– Page 3

12. Recipient may not charge any indirect or administrative costs to funds made available
under this award because the allocation in this grant award represents an amount of funds
that must be distributed to students.

13. Recipient acknowledges that any obligation under this grant (pre-award costs pursuant to
2 CFR § 200.458) must have been incurred on or after March 13, 2020, the date of the
declaration of a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease
(COVID-19) Outbreak (85 FR 15337).

14. Recipient must promptly and to the greatest extent practicable distribute all grant funds
from this award in the form of emergency financial aid grants to students within the one-
year period of performance (2 CFR § 200.77) specified in Box 6 of this Grant Award
Notification (GAN).

15. Recipient must, to the greatest extent practicable, continue to pay its employees and
contractors during the period of any disruptions or closures related to coronavirus
pursuant to section 315 of the CRRSAA.

Reporting and Accountability:

16. Recipient must promptly and timely provide a detailed accounting of the use and
expenditure of the funds provided by this award in such manner and with such frequency
as the Secretary may require.

17. Recipient must have a compliance audit conducted of its administration of the HEERF
grant for any institutional fiscal year during which Recipient expended $500,000 or more
in total HEERF grant funds, whether under section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act,
section 314(a)(4) of the CRRSAA, or section 2003 of the ARP, or was on Federal
Student Aid’s Heightened Cash Monitoring (HCM) 1 or 2 list during any point of the
institution’s fiscal year in which it expended any HEERF grant funds
(https://studentaid.gov/data-center/school/hcm). The HEERF compliance audit must be
conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards, issued by the
Comptroller General of the United States, and the applicable audit guide developed by
the Department’s Office of Inspector General. To the extent practicable, the annual Title
IV audit may be used to cover certain areas of the HEERF audit if separately auditing
those areas would be duplicative. The Office of the Inspector General has published their
audit guide available here:
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/nonfed/proprietary.html.

18. Recipient acknowledges it is under a continuing affirmative duty to inform the
Department if Recipient is to close or terminate operations as an institution or merge with
another institution. In such cases, Recipient must promptly notify in writing the assigned
education program officer contact in Box 3 of the GAN. Additionally, Recipient must
promptly notify the assigned education program officer if the Recipient’s Authorized
Representative changes.
Proprietary Institution Grant Funds for Students– Page 4

19. Recipient must cooperate with any examination of records with respect to the advanced
funds by making records and authorized individuals available when requested, whether
by (a) the Department and/or its OIG; or (b) any other Federal agency, commission, or
department in the lawful exercise of its jurisdiction and authority. Recipient must retain
all financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal
entity records pertinent to a Federal award for a period of three years from the date of
submission of the final expenditure report pursuant to 2 CFR § 200.334.

20. Recipient acknowledges that failure to comply with this Certification and Agreement, its
terms and conditions, and/or all relevant provisions and requirements of the CRRSAA or
ARP any other applicable law may result in Recipient’s liability under the False Claims
Act, 31 USC § 3729, et seq.; OMB Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide
Debarment and Suspension (Nonprocurement) in 2 CFR part 180, as adopted and
amended as regulations of the Department in 2 CFR part 3485; 18 USC § 1001, as
appropriate; and all of the laws and regulations referenced in the “Applicable Law”
section of this Certification and Agreement, below.

Applicable Law:

21. Recipient must comply with all applicable assurances in OMB Standard Forms (SF) SF-
424B and SF-424D (Assurances for Non-Construction and Assurances for Construction
Programs), including the assurances relating to the legal authority to apply for assistance;
access to records; conflict of interest; nondiscrimination; Hatch Act provisions; labor
standards; and the general agreement to comply with all applicable Federal laws,
executive orders, and regulations.

22. Recipient certifies that with respect to the certification regarding lobbying in Department
Form 80-0013, no Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid to any
person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a
Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member
of Congress in connection with the making or supplementing of Federal grants under this
program; Recipient must complete and submit Standard Form-LLL, “Disclosure Form to
Report Lobbying,” when required (34 CFR part 82, Appendix B).

23. Recipient must comply with the provisions of all applicable acts, regulations and
assurances; the following provisions of Education Department General Administrative
Regulations (EDGAR) 34 CFR parts 75, 77, 81, 82, 84, 86, 97, 98, and 99; the OMB
Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension
(Nonprocurement) in 2 CFR part 180, as adopted and amended as regulations of the
Department in 2 CFR part 3485; and Subparts A through E of the Uniform Administrative
Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards in 2 CFR
part 200, as adopted and amended as regulations of the Department in 2 CFR part 3474.
Proprietary Institution Grant Funds for Students– Page 5

Institution Name: _________________________________________
Authorized Representative (typed name): ______________________________________
Authorized Representative Title: _________________________________________
DUNS Number: _________________________________________
OPE ID: _________________________________________
Date: _________________________________________

Paperwork Burden Statement
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a
collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid
OMB control number for this information collection is 1840-0852. Public reporting burden for
this collection of information is estimated to average 5 hours per response, including time for
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering, and maintaining the data
needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond
to this collection is required to obtain or retain a benefit (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(Pub. L. 117-2)). If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate,
suggestions for improving this individual collection, or if you have comments or concerns
regarding the status of your individual form, application or survey, please contact Karen Epps,
400 Maryland Avenue, SW. Washington, D.C. 20202 directly.

OMB Number: 1840-0852
Expiration Date: 5/31/2024

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